1) We got there at about 11:30 AM. Temperature was between 29 and 30 degrees. Unlike previous visits to the park, they didn't open the park early. People began filing in at the posted start time of 12:00 PM.

2) I didn't think I'd fit on the coasters with my parka, so I entered the park wearing a hoodie over a T-shirt. When we got into the park, we found out that the coasters were down. At that time, I should have gone back to the car for my parka, but the sun was out and I was doing OK. When the clouds rolled in around 3:00 PM, it felt much cooler, but I was off in Yukon Territory and didn't want to make the the long walk to the parking lot to get a heavier coat. I was often uncomfortably cool for the rest of the day.

3) How busy was the park? When we arrived at 11:30 AM, there were about 50 people in line. By 12:00 PM, maybe over 100. Walking around the park later in the day, I was surprised at how undead it felt. It didn't feel busy, but there were plenty of people in the thoroughfares and the indoor Dining locations had decent lines during the Dining Pass meal periods. I'd say the front parking lot was about 1/6 full when we left the park at 6:00 PM.

7) My brother and I did the double dining pass thing where we enter the park twice with our 2018 and 2019 season passes. Combined with the extra food/drink we were taking in at the Last Call booths, we just couldn't take in any more. We ended up converting 4 dinners to snacks, then bought eight pieces of fudge from Trudy's to take home with us.

The Last Call food portions are noticeably smaller than normal food you'd get at Mooseburger or JB's. Because I was just wearing a hoodie, I opted to consume hot spiced wine and hot apple cider in an effort to raise my core body temperature. This worked, but if I'd known we were going to convert our dinners to snacks, I probably would have gone for hot meals instead.

9) The Chicago Bites booth wasn't open, which was a shame. They had some pretty good meals that I would have liked to try.

10) Chubasco is getting a makeover over its entire exterior. Walls of LED lights are being installed. See the Holiday in the Park thread for a few pictures.

11) I heard old theme music throughout the park except for Southwest Territory and Hometown Square. SW was playing Country music, and there was an Indian singer in HS (celebrating Diwali).

In summary, if I could do today over again, I would have worn my parka instead of my hoodie, I would have consumed more Last Call food instead of drink, and I may not have even gone to the park: most rides were down, which took a lot of potential fun out of the day.

I went today for around an hour and a half. I really loved the music they were playing! It finally wasn't the repetitive pop music!! It was cool seeing how open the former Pictorium area is now. I can't even imagine how Maxx Force will look there. The skyline will change dramatically!

More rides open the last day of the festival. Stuff like Red Lobster, the shortest ride on the planet (Big Easy Balloons), Joker, Batman outdoors, Chubasco, Raging Bull, V2, Whirligig, Fiddler's Fling, Larson Fireball, Ricochet (for the LUCKY few - for about 30 minutes maybe), Triple Play, the black Arrow coaster, and the Hometown Fun Machine to name some of the rides open compared to the previous day.

I don't know why most of you would care, but someone might say, what about River Rocker? It's closed, and I think the only reason is because the exit is in an area they don't want you to go in. They are hanging a bunch of lights onto the Giant Drop, and they have that area with metal gates you can't go into. So, that's why I think River Rocker is closed, if anyone cares (probably crickets...)

"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"

I was surprised to see so many rides closed today. Last year it was much colder and every coaster and most of the thrill ride were open Still had a very good visit and got on the last train of the night on Bull.

Yeah I wasn’t expecting TT2 to be set up still. The other real shock was Dark Knight being a walk-on. At least when I went to ride it. I guess there weren’t too many closed rides. It was more closed coasters than anything.